Writing Requirements

A student must satisfy each of two separate writing requirements:

(1) The writing intensive experience requirement, and

(2) The capstone writing requirement, as follows:

Students are strongly encouraged to complete the writing intensive experience before undertaking the capstone writing project.

The following rules are applicable to BOTH the writing intensive experience (WIE) requirement and the capstone writing requirement:

• The student must write the paper as part of a course or as an Individual Research project.
• The paper must be approved and supervised by a faculty member, and the course or individual research project must be undertaken for at least 2 credits.
• Papers written for a course or Individual Research supervised by a faculty member and meeting all other WIE or capstone requirements may also be eligible for a Lewis & Clark law journal (Animal Law, Environmental Law, or Lewis & Clark Law Review) paper requirement.
• The student’s written work must demonstrate articulate, thoughtful, and well-structured analysis of the subject matter, based, where appropriate, on careful and competent research.
• No one course, project, or written product may be used to satisfy both the “writing intensive experience” requirement and the “capstone writing” requirement.

Writing intensive experience (WIE)

The student must successfully complete a writing intensive experience (WIE). This requirement may be met in any of three ways:

(a) The student successfully completes a course that has been designated by the Curriculum Committee as a “writing intensive” course. Courses will be designated as writing intensive courses only if they include substantial instruction or coaching, and feedback, on writing skills as a central component of the class, apart from any coverage of an area of substantive law.

(b) The student successfully completes a course in which the instructor certifies, upon completion of the course, that the student’s work in the course was a “writing intensive” experience. Work will qualify for this designation only if it includes substantial instruction or coaching, and feedback, on writing skills as a central component of the work, apart from any coverage of an area of substantive law.

(c) The student successfully completes an individual research project that upon its completion is certified by the supervising faculty member to have been a “writing intensive” project. Projects will qualify for this designation only if they include substantial instruction or coaching, and feedback, on writing skills as a central component of the project, apart from any coverage of an area of substantive law.

The course or project must be graded by a faculty member, and receive a grade of “C” or better; or a faculty member must certify to the Registrar that the student’s written work would, if graded, receive a grade of “C” or better.

What is “substantial instruction or coaching, and feedback, on writing skills”? It includes the following:

• The professor will provide students with guidelines on the writing requirements for the course or individual research. These guidelines should include an overview of expectations for written work and should specify deadlines for submission of outlines, drafts, and final versions of course assignments.

• The professor will provide substantial writing instruction in-class, through written guidelines and handouts, and/or through conferences with students. This instruction could include topics such as organization, topic selection, pre-writing strategies, thesis development, persuasive writing techniques, style, and grammar. It could include having students review and evaluate sample legal documents on the same topic or in the same format as the student is producing. This instruction could also include structured peer reviews in which students provide written feedback on specific aspects of writing projects based on specific instruction from the professor about the focus and depth of peer reviewer comments.

• The professor will provide substantial written feedback on student writing during the semester. This feedback should include comments on projects at the outline or draft phases and can vary in focus and purpose as the semester progresses. In addition, the professor should evaluate the extent to which a student has understood and incorporated the feedback provided. Feedback may include, but is not limited to:

• Margin or bubble comments identifying specific problem areas;
• Endnotes noting overall problems; and
• Grading rubrics showing whether assignment requirements are met.

• The professor will conduct at least one conference with each student and, when appropriate, should offer additional optional conference opportunities. Conferences should include discussion of the student’s progress toward meeting the expectations for the course writing requirements. The professor may require students to prepare for the conference by creating a written conference agenda.

Capstone writing

The student must successfully complete a course or individual research project which, upon its completion, the instructor or supervising faculty member certifies was a “capstone writing” experience for the student. Courses and individual research projects will qualify for this designation only if they require a significant written product that demonstrates thorough research, the ability to synthesize and report on that research, the ability to engage in complex legal and critical analysis, and sophisticated writing skills.

Although many Capstones follow the format of a law review article or note, they are not required to do so. A student could undertake a survey and analysis of a legal doctrine in one or more jurisdictions, draft a mock merits or amicus brief for a pending case, or prepare materials that educate the public about a certain area of law. The specific form of the Capstone paper will emerge from discussions between the student and the supervising faculty member.

The written product must involve a mandatory rewrite after a draft has been reviewed and commented upon by the faculty member grading the written product; the final product must be reasonably responsive to the commentary and criticism received. The course or project must be graded by a faculty member and receive a grade of “C” or better.

A student may not write a Capstone paper for an adjunct faculty member without prior approval of the Associate Dean of Faculty.

Students who write their Capstone papers as an individual research project should consult the requirements for individual research in the course description.

Allocation of Credits for a Capstone. Students who write their Capstone paper as an individual research project typically earn two credits, but some students write a three credit paper. Students who choose in advance to write their Capstones over two semesters may take their credits in either semester, or over two semesters, at their discretion. Students who choose to write their Capstones over two semesters will receive an extended time (XT) grade at the end of the first semester.